Comic Rules

In 2019 a few subtle changes were made to the rules regarding comic submissions to the Torn City Times. The rules are explained in brief on the comic submission panel, but here is a more in-depth guide as to what is now acceptable.

DO

Create a comic drawn to high standard containing Torn-relevant content in the 650x200 dimensions. Here's a great example of an accepted comic by Drizella, who has clearly spent time and effort in creating her piece. Not everyone can draw as well as Drizella can, but that doesn't matter, because if we can tell you've made an effort, your comic stands a good chance of being accepted.

DON'T

Send us a copy and paste job which took you five minutes. Your strip doesn't have to be a Renoir, but it must look neat and tidy, non-distorted and reasonably well laid out. One comic that's taken you three hours is far more likely to be accepted than ten pieces which took you three minutes. Don't rush.

DO

Take time to think about the ideas in your comic and create something clever. Topical comics which refer to recent Torn events are always welcome, but we know that making these things takes a while. A little delay is fine. If your entry is funny, clever or a combination of the two, it will always stand out from the crowd. But try to avoid obvious observations on the difference between Torn and real life - we get these a lot.

DON'T

Send us an entry which heavily relies on copyrighted material, memes or non-original content. If you've redrawn something in the style of a famous comic that's fine, but making slight edits to a known strip is not enough. The comic below was rejected on the grounds that it consists almost entirely of images taken from Cyanide and Happiness.

DO

Try to challenge yourself by hand-drawing your comic. As long as your strip has been scanned or photographed cleanly, we welcome the submission of comics done by hand. Due to the skill it takes to achieve a neat and tidy image when drawing manually, we are prepared to overlook minor mistakes for these strips.

DON'T

Employ the use of template comic makers like the one we’ve posted below. You are permitted to use template frames and speech bubbles, but you must draw the contents of your strip digitally or by hand.

DO

Feel free to collaborate with another player on your entry. We're allowing this as it makes sense to let players combine their time and talents and split the rewards afterwards. However, when dual-authored comics are submitted, please post them from one account only. Only one player may receive the award and points for any one single comic. You are free to split the points afterwards if you like, but the award can only go to one person. In the event of a dispute, Torn will not get involved.

DON'T

Post a comic which has already been declined unless it is materially different from the original. You must also avoid posting comics which have already been accepted, rejected or stolen from other users. Doing so will result in a punishment to be determined by the admin team. If your comic is rejected for any reason, you may contact Sugarvalves directly to enquire as to why, at which point he may give you permission to resubmit it.

Please limit your correspondence to one direct message, and do not contact him to enquire about the status of your comic before it has been published or rejected.

DO

Check out the kind of comics we've already published. Obviously we're trying to increase the standard of comics now, so don't take this as a strict guide as to what you should submit. However, it's still a good idea to see what kind of stuff we've published so you can avoid sending us an idea that's already been done. The comic below is a great example, as it is well drawn, it references a feature of Torn (NPC looting) and it has its own self-contained story.

DON'T

Put off submitting a comic any longer. There is a rare honor given to those who have a comic accepted by the newspaper, as well as a handy haul of 250 points. And from now on, we're offering a donator pack to anyone whose comic is published on the Torn Instagram @tornographic or the Torn facebook page.

Basically, if we can tell you've made a real effort to draw your own comic digitally or by hand, and it contains interesting, relevant content, it will almost certainly be published. We have a real dearth of comics at the moment, so if you spend some time on your entry it is highly likely to be approved. Good luck!